By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Badgers looked exactly like they were supposed to for the most part during a three-team scrimmage with Trumann and Harding Academy at Alumni Field/First Security Stadium in Searcy on Tuesday night.
The Badgers scored with long, sustained drives against both Wildcats defenses without any turnovers and defended the running game well, but Harding Academy used the spread-pass game to get some good hits against Beebe’s secondary.
Much like last year’s scrimmage between the three teams, Beebe and Harding Academy appeared to be closely matched while Trumann’s defense took it on the chin from both of its opponents.
“Offensively, I thought we did pretty good,” Badgers coachJohn Shannon said. “There was no big play, but we played our style of ball – three, four yard gains.
“Defensively, we were pretty good. We were very vanilla against the spread with our coverage package.”
Beebe started against the Trumann defense and scored twice in 15 plays. The first was an eight-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a nine-yard run by senior halfback Jeremy Van Winkle, and the second concluded in seven plays, capped by Jay Holdway’s eight-yard run.
The Badgers did not have it quite as easy against the Harding Academy defense, but did move the ball consistently, scoring in nine plays. Sophomore fullback Eric Thorn shined during the series against the Wildcats with runs seven and eight yards before scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run down the left hash.
Stallnacker looked comfortable leading the offense, and showed off his own running abilities out of the option. Senior halfbacks Holdway and Michael Kirby had limited touches, but Thorn and Van Winkle saw plenty of action. Matt Pursell also came away with some good runs both as a halfback and second-team quarterback.
“We wanted to give everybody a look,” Shannon said. “We only ran four different plays. We already knew what Holdway and Kirby, our seniors could do. We gave Thorn some totes, and we ran plenty of option.”
Stallnacker showed a knack for misdirection, and picked up 16 yards in three option sneaks against Harding Academy’s defense.
“I thought Stallnacker did a pretty good job,” Shannon said. “He had a bad pitch there early, but he settled down after that.”
The first part of the scrimmage consisted of each offense on the field for 15 plays against an opposing defense starting at their own 30-yard line. If the offense turned the ball over either in play or on downs, they started over from the 30.
The second part was a goal line drill in which the offense was given eight plays from their opponent’s 10-yard line.
Beebe scored five times in eight plays in their goal line drill against the Trumann defense. Stallnacker took it all the way in on the first play, Thorn scored from five yards out on the second play and Holdway took the 10-yard distance on the following play.
Senior reserve halfback Rory Moore punched it in from a yard out on the sixth play and Thorn wrapped up the session with another score—this one a two-yard touchdown run.
“I was pleased with the running backs,” Shannon said. “The line did a pretty good job, but we’re going to have to get a lot better.”
Although overall pleased, Shannon still found areas in need of improvement.
“We pretty much saw what we were expecting to see,” Shannon said. “The sophomores looked good at times. Other times they looked like sophomores. We just have to get back and continue to work hard.”
